Hacked? As technology advances, hackers are advancing too! Cybersecurity should be a priority for your law firm. While you may be thinking “nobody would want to hack a law firm website,” The Rainmaker recently had a law firm client experience this exact intrusion!
Our Client’s Story
To protect our client’s identity, we will refer to them as Law Firm ABC. A Rainmaker expert was working on Law Firm ABC’s legal marketing and noticed the website had a video game feel and look. The firm’s site had an odd character that was artistic and gave the impression a video game was ending (and the game was lost). The client was wholly unaware that anything was wrong with their website. The Rainmaker team immediately took action to fix the problem by accessing the daily back-up we provide for all our or clients’ websites. When Law Firm ABC’s website was hacked, we limited their downtime by pulling the daily backup of their website and securing their site. Our team acted so quickly that Law Firm ABC never knew their website was broken and avoided embarrassment as well as the potential to lose clients.
Signs Your Website Has Been Hacked
Although signs indicating your site has been hacked can be invisible, below are indicators that you may have an issue:
- Broken webpages
- Cartoon characters or video game feel
- Links are redirected to suspicious sites
- You receive hacking alerts from search engines
- Your site sees significant traffic from foreign countries
- Your site’s load time slows down
- White screen of death
- Your host provider takes down your website
- Shady advertisements
If your website has one or more of these issues (or others not listed), it is important to investigate them as soon as possible to minimize any damage to your brand and reputation. Not to mention, clients are not going to be impressed if your website appears to be hacked or has glitches. Additionally, a hacked website will result in your search ranking results to plummet.
Ways to Prevent Future Hacking
Once you recover your hacked website, it is critical to take steps to prevent future hacking of your site. While there is no magical formula to guarantee your website cannot be compromised, a few steps can minimize your risk. For example, remove software that is no longer needed, update to strong passwords, limit login attempts, and backup your site regularly. You should also ensure that your web hosting provider is reputable and scan your site with trusted security software. Finally, allow the experts at The Rainmaker Institute to monitor and protect your website.
How The Rainmaker Institute Can Help
Your digital presence – particularly your website – is crucial in generating and converting leads. You have worked hard to get where you are, so learn to use technology to your advantage so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor more often while also generating new clients!
The Rainmaker Institute manages your legal marketing so you can focus on lawyering. We will provide content that contains top legal focus keywords, proper page titles, appropriate meta descriptions, target length of content, and images that will boost your attractiveness to Google. In short, we will make great content. We also ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and attractive to potential clients. Finally, we not only assist you when your site has been hacked, but we proactively prevent it from happening in the first place!
If you are ready to take your law firm to the next level and see your Google ranking improve, we can help. Whether you choose to attend one of our live events or you want a free, confidential consultation, we are here to help!